DrDr Interview

Ahead of our Summer Closing Party on June 6th at Rescue Rooms, we caught up with the next headliner on the night, bass trio, DrDr. Excited for their Nottingham debut and to showcase their talents to the STFD crowd, we also found out that we are not the only ones who have an a found love for Moon Boots! Read more below…

Hey guys, welcome to Shut The Front Door! It is an absolute pleasure to be speaking to you guys and although we aware what you are all about, could you please give our readers a brief bio of DrDr including; an introduction to yourselves – how you started/met and where the name came from?

Hello All. So as you have said we are DrDr, there is 3 of us, two producers Chris and Joe and myself Donna. We have been together for about a year now and started making music when we all lived together this time last year. Since then we seem to spend each waking hour with each other and have been able to find our sound. We came up with our name when we were trying some out and were told a DrDr joke. It seemed to stick from then on!

Things have really started to gain momentum for you in the past few months including playing on the same bill as Skream, Dismantle and Scratch Perverts to name but a few. How did you find these experiences and what do you have planned for the rest of 2013?

We have been extremely lucky to be able to play with such huge names. Its amazing to be playing with people that we would be hyped to go watch let alone share a stage with. We have had some great gigs within the last year, to name a few Concorde 2 recently with Floating points,Hannah Wants and a gig we played at The Nest with YukSek. They were both huge nights for us, with a great crowd and atmosphere and definitely among a few that stand out! We plan to do a bit more travelling this year within the UK and hopefully a few dates in America!

After Major Lazer blogged your cover of ‘Get Free’ you received over 30,000 hits of the song on Soundcloud. Did you ever expect such a great response?

We were completely shocked. We didn’t even realise it had happened until we came home and all our pages had crashed due to the extreme amount of people visiting and downloading the track. It gave us a huge boost and felt amazing that such a well renowned band like Major Lazer liked what we had done to their track (its always a bit of hit and miss).

Your early material has consisted of a number of covers including the likes of The XX’s ‘Angels and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me A River’. How did these song choices come about and do you know if the original artists are aware of your versions?

Our covers usually come about by finding that a drum beat or bass line sounds a lot like something else. Or the boys have been slaving away at an original track and I swan in and start singing something over the top. Covers are just as much fun maybe even more than originals. We try not to ruin or ‘improve’ the track but to put our own twist on it. I’m not sure if all the artists we have covered are aware but we like to think that if they did hear it they would approve!

We should also mention that DrDr shouldn’t gain a reputation for producing covers alone as you have also produced your own material including an EP that was recently released on Champion Records. What was the reaction to your release and how did you get such an amazing array of artists for the remix package?

We had a wicked response to No Compromise not only from people who follow us but also from Radio presenters such as Cameo on Radio 1 extra and Trevor Nelson. Its been great to have such a positive response and has pushed us to write more material. The artists were chose by Champion Records, like you said an amazing package! They have definitely had a big part in pushing the EP as well as our wicked promotion team!

Originally, STFD discovered DrDr through the track ‘Addicted’. How would you describe your sound, who are your influences and is there anyone else out there that you could liken yourselves too?

This is always the hardest question, I find it so hard to define our sound to one specific genre. We have been influenced by loads of incredible artists to name a few- SBTRKT, Burial, Jamie XX and Rustie. But there is some great artists out there that we find on Soundcloud that change the way we see a beat or a vocal sounding. We have been described as Future Bass with a hint of Garage. We make music you can dance to and gets us up off our seat excited to show the world. That’s our sound.

What are DrDr’s ambitions for the future? Do you have any collaborations or further covers lined up or will you be solely focusing on producing your own material?

We have a new EP to drop end of July which we are really excited about. Its been a lot of late nights and long days but its finally to the point that we are really proud of! Until then we have got some more covers to come out and collabs with the likes of Atlas. We also have a release to come out in the next couple of months on KissySellOuts label San City High which is a bit different to what you might think our sound to be but is a great record. Other than that lots of gigging around the UK and hopefully in America then end of summer. Its all about the music and it never stops for us.

Whispers have reached Nottingham from Brighton that you put on a live show, what can we expect to see from DrDr on stage?

Those whispers would be correct! Me and the boys all come from a live background, I used to play drums, Joe bass and Chris Gutiar. So we wanted to keep that live element when we play shows. On stage I sing with a VE20 Boss pedal for delays and the boys use ALOT of equipment, 2 Macs, Drum Pad, MPC and loads more. Its hard to explain really but all I would say is to watch the boys they may look like they are bouncing round aimlessly but they are doing some incredible things on their machines. It takes a lot of work and eventually we will bring in a few more instruments but we hope you enjoy what we do!

Finally, are you guys looking forward to being a part of STFD’s tropical summer closing party and what are your expectations of the brand/night?

Getting really excited for STFD looks like its gone be a BIG night!! Plus we all love Moon Boots so its a chance to see an incredible DJ as well as playing to what looks to be a really happy crowd. NO MORE EXAMS!!

We are stoked to have DrDr headline our Summer Closing Party on June 6th alongside with the tropical disco sensation, Moon Boots.